# Key Points from IRC Discussion

• A novel neural stimulation technique was discussed involving 22nm magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles that can be injected into the brain and activated by external magnetic fields, triggering heat-sensitive capsaicin receptors to stimulate neurons wirelessly and non-invasively.

• Participants debated the merits of this magnetic nanoparticle approach versus optogenetics for neural stimulation, weighing the invasiveness of requiring a glass window in the skull against potential sensitivity advantages of the magnetic method.

• A significant discussion centered on academic paper accessibility, highlighting a 35TB collection of 35 million scientific papers being distributed via torrents by LibGen, raising important questions about academic paywalls and knowledge accessibility.

• The concept of zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge (zkSNARKs) was explored, with explanatory resources shared about how these cryptographic proofs maintain privacy while verifying information.

• Database migration tools for evolving research schemas were compared, with recommendations for Alembic in non-Django environments and South for Django projects.

• Videos of chimpanzees using touchscreens and playing Pacman sparked discussion about cognitive differences between humans and primates, particularly regarding memory and pattern recognition capabilities.

• The group analyzed computing system bottlenecks, categorizing performance constraints as I/O-bound, CPU-bound, or memory-bound, which is relevant for optimizing research computing infrastructure.